I will be the first to admit – I love everything Bombay. And so, it’s no surprise, I love my Bombay Brides (do the names Shonan, Anushka & Masaba Gupta ring a bell?) Since I spent a lot of my early school years in Mumbai, and went back there for college, I have a lot of Bombay people on my Facebook list. One of them is a girl called Anasuya. She was my batchmate in college, and if there’s one thing I remember about her, it was how I perpetually saw her in silver jewellery during those 3 years on campus. Why is this important? You’ll find out soon enough.

Anasuya popped up on my Facebook feed last year. In bridal finery. That I loved. We had a long chat over coffee at a Delhi cafe, where she showed me all her gorgeous wedding photographs while exchanging notes on how Delhi life compares to Mumbai (she’s moved to the Capital to live with her husband, Ashish). I loved so many things about her wedding, and was particularly excited to feature our first Malayali couple on the blog. Her wedding took place across various venues in Mumbai, and the festivities wrapped up with a New Delhi Reception. Her bridal wardrobe intrigued me the most, so I got as many details as I possibly could to share with you on the blog.

Simple suit for Aashirwaad + Mehendi ceremony

The first event that kicked off Anasuya’s wedding celebrations was an Aashirwad ceremony combined with Mehendi. The bride wore a simple kurta with palazzos, and paired it with silver jewellery. Since she is a Malayali, she knew she would be wearing gold on all the other functions, so she took the one chance she had to wear jewellery she truly loved 🙂

DIY Sangeet Lehenga

Her Sangeet lehenga was made out of fabric she bought with her mom, from Four Bunglows & Tirumala Fabrics in Mumbai’s Manish Market (which is like the Chandni Chowk of Mumbai). They picked out vibrant colours and pretty borders, and handed it to a tailor to stitch and enhance the motifs. Anasuya didn’t want to spend a lot on this lehenga because she knew it was something she would not wear too many times again. Smart move, I say!

Traditional Malayali Wedding Sari

Traditionally, everyone at a Malayali wedding wears cream and gold, including the bride. But Anasuya wanted to stand out from the crowd, so she chose to go for a relatively “fancier” border and added a green lining to the inside of her sari’s pallu to complement the green decor at her wedding.

She wanted to style her sari, which was from Karalkada in Trivandrum, with simplicity. As a Malayali bride, she was expected to “layer on the gold” on her neckline, but instead she chose to pick just a few pieces, which were a mix of hand-me-downs and new jewellery. What it resulted in was Anasuya looking like the prettiest South Indian bride I’ve ever seen! ❤

But wait, there was something that needs a special mention – the way Anasuya’s family planned the wedding keeping in mind the comfort, convenience and pleasure of their guests.

Complementing decor with outfits. The family decided on a green-themed decor, keeping in mind that the guests in their creams and golds would show up against it beautifully!

Planning perfection. The actual wedding ceremony at a Malayali wedding lasts for only about 5-10 minutes. Having realised that some guests might not be aware of this, the family took it upon themselves to ensure the guests were seated and quiet before the ceremony began, so that they didn’t miss it!

Thinking of the guests’ convenience. Little pouches of rice were hung on every single chair at the wedding, so that everyone had rice in their hands to throw onto the bride and groom at the end of the ceremony.

Kanjeevaram Sari at Delhi Reception

Saved the best for last, didn’t I? 🙂

The bride was looking for a simple yet classy sari in dull gold that could be re-used later on, and had imagined how beautiful it would look with a bridal red blouse. Since her work schedule didn’t allow her to travel, her mother and MIL went sari shopping in Kerala. They sent her pictures on Whatsapp, and at a store named Jayalakshmi in Trivandrum, Anasuya finally found “the one”.

Thrilled to have found the perfect sari, the bride and her mother bought 2 meters of raw silk fabric in a bridal red shade from Tirumala Fabrics in Mumbai. They left it in the capable hands of designer Sabina in Bandra, who agreed to design and embroider it for INR 15,000 (it was worth it!) The sleeves were to be kept long, to give the Bombay bride some sort of shield from Delhi’s likely-to-be-cold-in-end-November weather.

Anasuya’s look at her Reception was my absolute favourite. I loved how she chose a sari that can be re-used, a blouse that was worthy of all the effort that went into it, and how beautiful the pictures turned out!

Anasuya curated her wedding wardrobe on her own terms – silver jewellery at her Mehendi, outfits that were either simple enough to be re-used in the future or reasonably priced if she knew she wouldn’t get much re-use value out of it (her Sangeet lehenga). Her mother, Anita, took care of all the details to make sure they had a flawlessly executed wedding that was within their budget while her MIL, Sudha Jose, took special care to make sure the Delhi reception was planned to perfection (no one does this without their moms!)

The entire celebration, as well as wardrobe, was kept simple, yet elegant and beautiful. It had everything I love in a wedding. Here you have it then, readers, the first Malayali wedding on the blog to kick off the New Year in the most beautiful way. Thanks for sharing your story with us, Anasuya!

You can see all other Wedding Wardrobe posts here. If you’re a newlywed who wants to share details of her wedding outfits on this blog, send in pictures of yourself in those outfits to thedelhibride@gmail.com with “Wedding Wardrobe” in the subject line.

Hii .. Being a malayali, m happy to read the first ever malayali wedding featured in ur blog nd the bride luks absolutely stunning 🙂
But a little correction if u dont mind. Not all malayali Brides wear karala saree during the wedding ceremony, instead most of them opt for kancheepuram silk sarees. Kerala sarees are usually worn after the main function in some castes or the day before wedding.

All her looks are so inspiring, I have taken lots for notes for my sister’s and my future weddings! Can you find out where she got the extra embroidery on the kasavu saree ( cream and gold) done from? I have never seen anything like it.

Thanks for sharing your experiences with us! I believe even within a specific culture, there are minor and major differences between how different families chose to perform rituals. This is probably how this particular bride and groom’s families do it 🙂 and yes, of course, only the wedding ceremony itself was specifically “Malayali” – rest are simply elegant as any other wedding!